Recent graduates well represented at Dutch Design Week 2025

From 18 to 26 October, the work of several recent graduates of the Minerva Art Academy will be shown at Dutch Design Week (DDW) in Eindhoven. Here's where you can find them.

Class of '25 - Klokgebouw (Strijp-S)

The Klokgebouw at Strijp-S is hosting the Class of '25 group presentation. Various Dutch and international academies are showcasing graduation projects and introducing the next generation of designers to the broader public. The selection from Academie Minerva was curated by Nelleke Karst and Jack Brandsma.

"The selected projects have a narrative character that emphasises the authorship of our alumni. They visualise the research-based approach that characterises Academie Minerva. Precisely because of the visual diversity that typically characterises Dutch Design Week, we deliberately chose a small selection of large-scale works, each of which is a showstopper. With their interactive components, we hope to actively engage the public."

- Nelleke Karst (curator)

Read more on ddw.nl

Manifestations - VEEM (Strijp-S)

Manifestations is located in the VEEM building at Strijp-S. With projects intersecting art and technology, Manifestations explores the extent to which technology influences your world, thoughts, and actions. The following alumni of Academie Minerva are featured here:

• Edith Bootsman - The Social Nurse (Fine Art and Design in Education)
  A performative installation that transforms a waiting room into a place for conversation and attention. Visitors take a seat, and engage with the nursing team, and experience how “waiting” can become a care ritual. Accessible, light-hearted, and at the same time critical of our screen reflex. Read more (ddw.nl) 

• Gijs Hennen - MEAT MACHINE 2 (Product Design)
  An installation of motors, chains and gears that mimics a meat factory. The work makes the often hidden meat chain audible and visible, so that you cannot look away from the logistics behind your plate. Read more (ddw.nl)

• Goro Modic - Off Limits Toys™: Weapons for Kids (Fine Art)
  An immersive installation in the form of a fictional toy shop. Through shelves, packaging and marketing language, the work holds up a mirror to us about taboos, education and censorship: what do we consider “suitable” for children, and who decides? Read more (ddw.nl)

• Anaida Melivia - Dream Big (Fine Art)
  Dream Big is the story of a creature struggling with intrusive dreams and family guilt who learns to love themselves by accepting them, exploring repressed emotions and moral ambiguity through performance and installation. Unheimische, anthropomorphic creatures that feel familiar, yet elude complete understanding.Read more (ddw.nl)

• Iris van Kalsbeek - Mannenmelk / Het land waar de dieren zoenen (Product Design)
  A film-based installation about slow stimulation: attention, genuine connection and authentic sexuality. Through critical observation and experimental design, she creates work that evokes confusion and recognition, inviting reflection and conversation. Read more (ddw.nl)

Centre Eindhoven - Micha van der Molen

Micha van der Molen (Product Design alumnus) is exhibiting his graduation project, The Institute for Sand Grain Level Policy, in Eindhoven city centre. You can find him under the roof on Nieuwe Emmasingel. 

Micha creates large-scale installations in which he questions the interaction between people and their environment. He is inspired by situations he experiences or by social themes, such as the sinking of the Netherlands. He enlarges and reduces elements, adds absurd elements and offers new perspectives. Micha explores how small details can reflect a major social problem. He interacts with the public and makes you aware of your own role.

Included in the 10 DDW tips of VPRO

Micha van der Molen (ddw.nl)